Infected Wounds
by Emmyzi
Summary: Ever wonder how Oliver can get all his wounds and still run around like nothing's wrong with him? Well, this is a story about what happends when everything doesn't heal as it should... Sort of a follow-up to my story "Consequences of claws".
1. Chapter 1

A sound woke Felicity up and a bit confused she looked at the clock to see it was almost 3 a.m. Then she heard the sound again and realized it was her phone ringing. She scrambled sideways on the bed to get to it wondering who could be calling her in the middle of the night. She was afraid it was a certain green-clad vigilante and that it was about some kind of emergency.

"Hello...?" she answered hesitantly.

"Felicity, I hope I didn't wake you up?" came Oliver's voice on the line.

"Well it's 3 in the morning so yes you did, but that's fine, I don't mind. What's wrong?"

"I'm patrolling and kind of in your neighborhood and was wondering if I could come in for a while?"

Felicity thought it was a bit strange that he would be patrolling on a night when he specifically asked her and Diggle to go home and relax, but then again maybe that was exactly the reason. He still had stitches in his side from the last mission gone wrong and she and Diggle had been nagging at him to take it easy and rest so that he could recover properly. Of course he didn't listen to them and was pushing himself way too hard, so maybe he'd just wanted to get rid of them and go off on some stupid thing by himself.

"Yeah, of course. Did anything happen?" Felicity asked already a bit worried. If he wanted to be on his own in the first place then why was he calling her now?

"No... not really... I just thought I could swing by before I'm done for the night...", came Oliver's vague reply.

"Ok, well you know how to get in my window so just let yourself in whenever you get here. Although I would appreciate a knock so I don't get a heartattack or something", she said.

He just hang up without any reply and that made Felicity even more sure about something being wrong. He probably just didn't want to scare her, but she could always tell when he wasn't being completely honest with her. The fact that he called her in the middle of the night instead of just going straight to the foundry spoke volumes.

After a couple of minutes she heard a knock on her window and went to her living room to greet Oliver. However, she was surprised to find him actually struggling with the window and looking like he didn't quite have the strength or the balance to enter as smoothly as he normally did.

She rushed over to help him and managed to drag him inside only to have him loose his balance and fall down in the middle of her living room floor.

"Oliver! Are you okay?", she shrieked as she knelt by the spot where he had fallen.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that, probably looked like a fool who can't even climb in a window properly...", he said a bit embarrased.

"What's wrong? And don't give me some crap about being fine when you come here in the middle of the night and clearly aren't able to sneak up on me like you usually do", she demanded.

"I'm telling you, nothing happened. I just haven't been feeling so well tonight and thought I'd check if you were home so that I maybe could come in and get some rest and warm up a bit and see if I felt better after a while. Maybe I'm just out of practise with this whole patrolling thing", he explained.

"Are you sure? For you to actually admit that something's wrong I'm pretty sure you'd have to be dying or something. But whatever, of course you're always welcome here eventhough you keep really strange hours. It's not like I'm getting my beautysleep or anything, but maybe that doesn't matter so much since I'm always holed up in some basement where nobody can see me anyway. Okay, I'm rambling again. Just come on over to the couch and let's see if there's anything good on TV".

She offered him a hand to help him off the floor and was really surprised at how warm his skin felt against hers.

"Oh my god, you're really warm! Did you just come from the sauna or something?", she exclaimed. "Well, stupid question, of course you didn't. Maybe you caught a cold out there and have a fever or something?"

"I'm not sure about the cold, but a fever certainly would explain why I've been a bit off my game tonight. And why I'm freezing eventhough you're only wearing shorts and a top", he mumbled as he slowly and (to Felicity's horror) a bit unsteadily followed her over to the couch.

"Okay, well first of all I'll get you something more comfortable and warm to change in to and then maybe I could make you tea or something? Just in case you have a cold I think that's probably what you're supposed to do? I'm not really good with these things but at least that sounds somewhat reasonable", she rambled on while getting him some big sweatpants and an old hoodie that would probably fit him.

He started to change out of his arrow-jacket, that actually was kind of damp and cold after spending the night outside, when he suddenly heard her gasp.

She was just coming into the room with the clothes when she caught a glimpse of his side that looked really awful. It was an angry red all the way and the big wounds that had been sewn together only a week ago looked like they were oozing some sort of yellowish goo.

"Oh my GOD Oliver! What's that?!" she sreamed as she dropped the clothes and ran over to him.

"Well, I think my wounds have gotten infected, but it's probably nothing...", he said sheepishly.

"Why the hell didn't you tell anyone? This is so not nothing, you've been running around with this all night and probably even stretching the wounds and getting sweat and dirt into them with your stupid vigilante crap! Oh my god, we have to get you to a doctor to get this looked at!", she panicked.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I seriously don't think it's so bad. At least they didn't look so bad this evening when I got dressed".

"And now you show up here with this, falling down on my floor and telling me your not feeling good. In your case it's probably code for you being lethally ill and still you just expect me to deal with it. What the hell am I supposed to do with you? Okay, first I'll clean the wounds, I'll get some supplies from the bathroom so you can finish changing your clothes while I'm in there. Then I'll call Diggle. Yeah, that's probably a good idea", she continued her rambles.

"Okay, but don't call Diggle just yet. He doesn't need to be woken up over something like this, it's probably just a little fever that will pass with new dressings and some rest. I'll be good as new in a little while", he tried to reassure her.

She finished cleaning his wounds and had to admit they did look better after the goo was removed and she got some clean bandages on him. But she didn't miss how hot he still felt and how he winced and clenched his jaw to avoid screaming everytime she so much as touched his side. No matter what he tried to say she was sure this wasn't just some minor thing and was really worried.

Oliver was now slumped on his good side on the couch and looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open. When Felicity returned from the bathroom, where she had disposed of the old bandages and the cleaning supplies, she saw that he had fallen asleep.

She was still worried about him, but he looked so completely exhausted that she just thought she'd let him sleep for a couple of hours and deal with this in the morning. She was pretty tired herself and decided to just go to bed and not worry about this anymore right now. If he'd still been able to do all his vigilante business tonight then Oliver probably wasn't dying in the next couple of hours. Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity woke up after a few hours to some strange noise from her living room. It sounded like somebody was tossing and turning on her couch and every once in a while there were some strange sounding mumbles and moans.

Shit! Oliver! Felicity was immediately wide awake and ran to the other room. There she saw Oliver lying on her couch still asleep but sweating profusely and moving around a lot.

"Oliver? Oliver, wake up", she quietly said as she went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Normally it wasn't really a good idea to touch a sleeping Oliver because he tended to be violent when something startled him, but Felicity thought it would be okay if he heard her voice at the same time.

Now, however, she didn't get any reaction out of him, which was really strange. She decided to shake him harder, but still nothing happened. At last she almost screamed his name, but it was only when she shook him so hard she jostled his side and the infected wounds that his eyes snapped open.

He swung his arm out to get rid of the person touching him, but didn't get very far. His punch was weak to begin with and when his arm moved far enough that it moved the skin over his ribs a shooting pain cut through him and he froze and did his best not to scream. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his jaw and just laid there in pain.

"Oliver? Oliver, are you okay? I'm not gonna hurt you, just tell me how you feel and what I should do", Felicity asked worriedly.

Oliver opened his eyes once more but just stared at Felicity as if he didn't have any idea of what she was saying. Felicity noticed his eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and combined with the sweating she was afraid his fever had spiked badly. She got her suspicions confirmed when she touched his forehead and felt that he really was burning up.

"Oliver, it's me Felicity. You're at my place and everything's okay, but it seems you have a high fever and i really need you to tell me how you're feeling", she tried again.

He blinked a couple of times and tried his best to focus on her, but didn't really succeed. At least he now somewhat understood what she was trying to tell him and recognized Felicity's voice.

"I'm...", he started to rasp out but his throat was so dry he couldn't form any words. He tried to clear his throat a couple of times but still his voice wouldn't work.

Felicity seemed to understand the problem and quickly rushed to the kitchen for some water. She held the glass up to him so that he wouldn't have to move his arms and jostle his wounds and after he'd drank the whole thing he seemed more awake and was able to answer her.

"I feel like I got run over by a truck or something. It hurts like hell everytime I move and my whole left side feels like it's on fire. And I'm really tired. What the hell happened to me?"

"Well you've managed to get a nasty infection in your wounds and right now you're burning up with fever. I'll bring you some more water cause it seems like you're sweating out a whole swimmingpool, but then I'm gonna call Dig whether you like it or not because I have no idea what to do with you", she said.

She brought him the water and he once again drank it all, and after that his eyes seemed to be closing on their own accord again.

"Felicity... I'm just so tired", he said his words slurred from exhaustion and then he was asleep once more.

Felicity watched him for a while to make sure he was actually sleeping peacefully, breathing regularly and not in some kind of nightmare state. Then she dug up her phone and called Dig.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Dig! Hi, it's Felicity. I'm calling about Oliver 'cause I really need help. He showed up at my place last night and now he's having a fever and I'm pretty sure his wounds are infected and he's really sick. Please help me!" she rambled quickly.

"Ok, I'm on my way", he answered and hang up. He really didn't have any idea of what she had been trying to tell him with her rambles, but she sounded really panicked and he knew Oliver had still been healing from his wounds no matter what he had been trying to convince them. It was better to just get there quickly and try to assess the situation for himself.


	3. Chapter 3

When Dig rang on Felicity's door she immediately rushed to open it and let him in.

"Thank god you're here! I can't get him to wake up anymore and he's really burning up!" Felicity greeted him clearly on the verge of a small panic attack.

"Okay, let's see what we can do", he said calmly as he made his way to the living room and the couch, where Oliver was lying.

He felt Olivers forehead and frowned a little at how hot it felt.

"Have you measured his fever?" he asked Felicity.

"No, but I'm on it right now", she said as she ran to the bathroom to get her thermometer.

Dig pulled off Oliver's hoodie and started to peel off the bandages, which made him shift in his sleep and actually grunt in pain. Meanwhile Felicity had the thermometer in his armpit and was measuring his temperature.

"This doesn't look so good...", Dig mumbled.

"His temp is 39,9 degrees. That's not good right?" Felicity asked.

"No, that's definitely not good. No wonder he's so out of it", Dig answered. "I can't believe he let the situation get this bad, but of course he's a stubborn idiot. These wounds look really infected and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to open them up again, clean out the dead tissue and then try to do some new stitches as sterile and clean as possible".

He covered Oliver's side with the bandages again and turned to Felicity, who was know kneeling beside the couch running her hands through Oliver's hair. She didn't even seem like she knew what she was doing, she just stared at him worriedly.

"Felicity?" he asked to get her attention.

"Hmm", she mumbled distractedly before she caught herself and turned to look at him. "Sorry, what were you saying? You can help him, right?"

"Yeah, I hope I can. I have some strong antibiotics stashed at the foundry just in case anything like this ever happened and I'm pretty sure he'll be okay once we get rid of the dead, infected flesh around the edges of the wounds. I'm gonna go gather some supplies and then I'll come back as soon as I can", he told her.

She let out a relieved sigh and nodded at him.

"You're gonna be okay here with him, right? If you have any regular painkillers, try to get him to swallow some to lower the fever. It's really not healthy for anyone to have a temperature that high for any longer time", he directed. "And if you're able to wake him up then try to make sure he drinks something. He's probably really dehydrated by now and it's making him even weaker".

"Yeah, sure, I'll do my best. Just try to get back here quickly. I really don't want him to die on me and most of the time I don't have any idea of what I'm supposed to do when you guys get hurt. I guess I should have studied medicine instead so that I could be even a little useful. But that wasn't really my thing because I can't stand the sight and smell of all the blood. Although I guess now I don't really have choice after he just decided it was a good idea to show up bleeding in my car with all his tight leather gear. Not that I mind the tightness or anything. Shit, I didn't really say that did I...", she rambled still panicking.

"Felicity, you're gonna do just fine and you're actually really useful no matter what you may think", Dig said as he made for the door.

"Okay... So now it's just me and a really hot unconscious dude that I have no idea how to help", she said quietly to herself as he left. She wasn't really sure if she meant Oliver was hot, as in feverish, or if it was just another one of her unintended (?) innuendos, but at least she was kind of glad he didn't hear her this time.

But on the other hand it would have been really nice if he had been awake. Then she wouldn't have to worry about him dying on her while she was too incompetent to do anything about it. Once again. Why did she always get herself into these situations?


	4. Chapter 4

After Diggle left Felicity just stood there staring at Oliver lying on the couch. She had no idea of how long she stood there, but after a moment her brain luckily seemed to catch up with the situation and she remembered that she was actually supposed to do something and not just stand there like an idiot.

"Right, water and pills for the fever", she thought out loud as she spurred into action and went to look for the medicine in the bathroom cabinet.

She quickly found a couple of pills, filled a large glass with water and went back into the living room. Now she only had the difficult task of getting Oliver conscious enough to actually drink the water and take the pills. Maybe it was a good thing though if he wasn't completely aware since he normally refused any medication...

"Oliver? Can you wake up for a bit?" she tried to coax him as she kneeled by his side and shook his shoulder lightly.

"Mmm... What, I'm tired...", he mumbled almost inaudibly with his eyes still closed.

Felicity was thrilled she got some reaction out of him and hoped he would wake up a bit more if she continued trying.

"Oliver, you need to open your eyes. I've got some pills here for you and you need to drink a little" she told him as she once again shook his shoulder.

Oliver's eyes opened a little bit but he didn't seem to be able to get his heavy lids all the way up.

"How much did I drink last night, I really feel like shit", he mumbled as he tried to move to sit up.

Felicity ignored his comment but helped him get into some kind of almost half sitting position so that he could swallow a bit more easily. She then lifted the glass of water to his lips and tried to get him to drink some.

"Here, you need to drink this to make you feel better", she said.

"Felicity? What are you doing here?" he asked confused.

He clearly didn't realize where he was or what was happening, but Felicity didn't really feel like explaining the situation to him when he were this out of it and lethargic. If she could just get the pills in him the she would be happy.

"Oliver, you need to swallow these pills, it's really important. Then you can go back to sleep", she said.

Oliver was too tired to argue and just took the pills she offered him. He did his best to swallow them, as she said he should, but he almost choked on the water and started coughing.

After a while he actually managed to get them down and even drink most of the water in really small sips at a time. He seemed like he was just funtioning on autopilot and not really aware of what was happening.

"Felicity, I don't feel good", he mumbled his words slurring and eyes only half open. "Help me..."

"I know Oliver, just try to get some rest and it will get better. I'm gonna stay right here so you're safe", she reassured him.

She sat down on the sofa next to him, laid his head in her lap and took a hold of his hand. He grip felt really weak compared to his normal firm one, but at least he seemed to be grateful for the contact. After a while she felt his grip loosen even more and she realized he had fallen asleep once more.

She sat for a while just holding his hand and stroking his hair absently, but soon she too felt her eyes staring to close. The short night and all the worrying had taken a toll on her and soon she was asleep next to him with her head resting on the edge of the couch.


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver woke up and looked around confused. Where was he and why had he been sleeping here? He noticed he was lying on something and tried to get up enough to make out what it was.

That was clearly a mistake. The first thing he noticed was that moving even that little sent almost unbearable pain through his entire body and the next thing was that the room started spinning like crazy when he lifted his head. Okay, no moving then.

His stirring had woken up Felicity as well, and now she was really glad to see him awake.

"Oliver, how are you doing? Are you okay?" she asked.

Oliver now realized that the thing he was lying on was in fact his favorite blond IT-girl and slowly the memories of last night started coming back to him. He knew he had been a fool when he went out patrolling with the infection, but he never thought it would get this bad. He had no memory of falling asleep on Felicity, so clearly he must have been pretty out of it.

"I'm fine", he answered. "My side hurts really bad and I can't move much, but otherwise I'm ok".

"Yeah right, you're probably just as fine as you were last night before you passed out and got a fever so high you've been out the whole morning. Come to think of it, I haven't got a watch on me so I don't have any idea of what time it is, but Dig isn't back yet so it can't be that late. I didn't really mean to fall asleep but you kept me up all night and really tired me out", she scolded him.

It took her a second to actually realize what she said, but then of she started blushing.

"God that came out wrong...", she sighed.

Oliver just smiled a little, still a bit too tired to try to keep up with her ramblings.

"Wait, Dig was here? When?" he asked when that part of her speech registered with him.

"I don't know, a little while ago. He said that I should get you to take some pills to lower your fever, which clearly helped by the way since you're a lot cooler and at least seem to be more aware of what's happening. He went to get some supplies from the lair and then he's gonna come back here to treat your infection", she answered.

"I don't remember that at all. But maybe it's for the best, I've heard I'm not the easiest patient to deal with. I hope I didn't cause you to much trouble?" Oliver continued.

"No, that's fine. I don't mind taking care of you when you pay me your nightly visits", she answered. "Oh god, why do everything I say always sound dirty...?"

She was saved by the doorbell. She jump up to open the door and was glad to see that Diggle was finally back.

"Oh, you're awake", Diggle said when he saw Oliver with his eyes open. "Let's see about those wounds then. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to open them up again to get rid of the infected tissue".

Oliver cringed at the mere thought of someone poking around in his already hurting flesh but tried to hide it as well as he could. When Diggle started lifted his shirt and started examining the wounds he just couldn't take it anymore. His whole body went rigid as he tried to fight the pain that flared up everytime anything even slightly jostled his skin.

"I took some morphine with me from the foundry. I know you don't like it but since youre awake now I think I'm gonna have to sedate you to get this done. I can barely touch you as it is and there's no chance I can do any kind of procedure on you if you're hurting this much", Diggle said as he saw Oliver's reactions to his examination.

"No! I won't take any drugs!" Oliver exclaimed and his heart already started racing and his breathing became more shallow as he panicked at the thought of being subdued and vulnerable like that. He'd learned the hard way that you always had to be at the top of your game and ready to defend yourself no matter how hurt you were.

"Oliver, I really think it's for the best. You're in Felicity's appartment with both her and me to watch over you. It's ok for you to let go for a moment and let me try to help you", Diggle tried to reason with him.

Oliver still looked like he was suspicious about it and wouldn't agree.

"Besides, I think you've noticed already that you're in no condition to fight anyone anyway. The morphine will just make it easier for me to treat you and speed up your recovery. If you don't want any more after I'm done then you can suffer all you want", Diggle added.

Oliver knew he would loose this argument. The survival lessons he'd learned on the island was rooted so deep in him that he really didn't like the idea of anything that messed with his mind, but maybe he could make an exception? After all, Dig was right when he said he couldn't fight off anyone at the time anyway. And he really trusted his two best friends.

"Ok, just please use as little as you can. I really don't want to be any more out of it then I already am...", he reluctantly agreed.

Diggle got the syringe ready and injected Oliver with the strong painkiller as soon as he found a vein. Of course he didn't want to give him a higher dose then necessary when he knew how his friend detested drugs, but at the same time he knew Oliver was a big guy and that infected tissue was incredibly painful.

Almost immediately after getting the medicine Oliver visibly relaxed. The drug made him feel pleasantly drowsy and problemfree. And the pain was almost gone, which he was really happy for.

"Felicity, I'm gonna need your help. Could you come over here and help med wash his side?" Diggle asked once he saw that Oliver could handle it. "Oliver tell me if it hurts too much or something else is wrong".

"Yeah, sure...", Oliver mumbled dreamily. Dig's and Felicity's voices already sounded like they were coming from somewhere far away.


	6. Chapter 6

Diggle checked how much Oliver still felt by pulling a little at the stitching of his wounds.

"Mmm... I feel that, but it doesn't hurt too bad...", Oliver slurred quietly.

At least he hadn't jumped through the roof or anything, so Diggle was satified. He knew he could probably not get all the pain away, but Oliver had quite a high tolerance so he would probably manage. It wouldn't hurt if he just gave in and went to sleep, but of course he had to be too stubborn to do that.

"Okay Felicity, let's try to get this done as quickly as possible now that he's not in too much pain", Diggle said. "We have to remove the old stitches first, so could you please cut the thread as I lift up the knots for you?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that", Felicity answered nervously.

They managed just fine although they had some minor problems with a couple of stitches that had really embedded themselves in the inflamed flesh. Then Diggle started to clean the edges of the wounds by cutting away the dead looking tissue with a sharp, surgical knife.

At that Oliver cringed a little, but stilled and seemed to be relatively fine as Felicity took hold of his hand and tried to calm him down.

"You feel so nice...", Oliver mumbled to Felicity, who blushed a little at his words. He normally didn't ever say stuff like that, but of course now he was sick and a bit drugged.

Diggle finished his mini-surgery and cleaned the area once more with a strong disinfectant. He almost would have liked to keep the wound open to let it breath and avoid further infection, but he knew this was not a sterile hospital environment and that it probably would lead to even more dirt getting in.

So he took a new pair of sterile gloves and did his best to make neat stitches and get the edges close together. Of course Oliver didn't really care about how his body looked anymore with all the other scars there already, but it couldn't hurt to try to do a good job.

"Felicity, could you help speed this up by cutting the thread after every stitch? He's gonna need quite a few to cover this mess", Diggle asked and of course she obliged as well as she could.

Then they just put new dressings on and Diggle started to look in his bag for the antibiotics that Oliver no doubt would need.

"Ok, my job here is done, but he's still gonna need looking after. It's really important that he takes these antibiotics four times a day for at least two weeks, and his dressings are gonna need to be changed and the wounds cleaned at least twice a day until the infection gets under control", he instructed Felicity. "Can you handle it or should I arrange someone else for him?" he asked.

"Of course I can do it, you don't need to worry about it. I mean, I'm not really good at this stuff but what can you do when your boss needs round the clock care? Not that I do this because he's my boss, I'd do it for anyone. Well, not anyone, but ... Oh, I'm hopeless. The point is I'll look after him as long as he needs help", she finished her ramble.

"Good, then I'll call you both in sick for at least a couple of days and bring some of his clothes over here. I really hate to bother you with this, but I don't think he should be moved right now and this is the place he chose to collapse in for some reason", Diggle said shaking his head at the stubborn man lying on the couch seemingly asleep.

"If his fever gets too high then just try to get him to take some medication or cool him down in some way. I'm leaving some stronger painkillers here too, but I doubt he'll agree to take any no matter how much pain he is in. If you have any questions or he's giving you trouble then you can always call me", he continued with a smile at Felicity as he went out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Felicity had done her really best to memorize all his instructions and now looked at the patient on the sofa. He seemed relaxed and fine, but the couch didn't really look that comfortable and she thought maybe she should try to move him to her bed. Then of course she wouldn't have anywhere to sleep, but it was a big bed and in the worse case she could always take the couch.

She was really happy that Diggle had thought about all the practical issues like getting them sick leave from work and bringing Oliver some clothes. It hadn't even crossed her mind before that, but of course Oliver was gonna have to stay at her place at least a little while and the sweatpants he was wearing right now was probably the only thing in the whole appartment that came even close to fitting him.

Deciding that she should stop worrying about stuff and start doing something, she went over to the couch. She didn't really know what her plan was, but she at least felt she should check how he was doing after all the cutting and stitching.

"Oliver? Are you awake?" she asked quietly as she approached him.

"Mm... Yeah...", he mumbled with his eyes still closed. It really didn't convince Felicity about how awake he was, but at least he heard her.

"How are you feeling? Are you in pain? Is something else wrong?" she asked.

"I'm fine, it doesn't hurt too bad... Actually feels kind of nice", he said still sounding a bit out of it and not like his normal self.

"You're probably still a bit drugged from the morphine Dig gave you. Maybe that's a good thing. The rough cleaning he did really looked like it wasn't gonna feel so good afterwards", she concluded.

Then he finally opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes was a bit glazed over, maybe from the fever or the drugs, but he seemed to be able to focus on her just fine.

"Do you think there's any chance you could help me move you to the bed? I don't think the couch is that good for sleeping on and you would probably be mmuch more comfortable in a bed", she asked him then.

"Yeah, no problem. Just help me get up and then I should be fine", he said.

Felicity offered him her hand and he took it although he missed it the first two tries, which made her seriously doubt how fine he was. If he could even see straight enough to take her hand then he probably would need some help walking too.

Oliver very slowly got to his feet and then just stood still swaying a bit as he tried to find his balance. He had to admit the world was spinning a bit too much for his liking and somehow he still had a strange feeling of floating and not being completely in control of his body.

"Oliver? You okay? Just hold on to me and we'll try to get to the bedroom. It's just a few steps", Felicity's voice came from somewhere that definitely didn't sound to be as close that she had to be to stand there touching him.

Oliver felt her put her arm around his waist, careful to avoid getting too close to the infected area. He then hesitantly tried to take some steps and to his surprise found it went quite well. Of course he probably would have fell down if Felicity hadn't been holding him upright, but that's just minor details, right? At least he could manage to move his own feet in a somewhat sensible manner so that they got where they were headed.

When they reached the bedroom Felicity carefully sat Oliver down on the bed and made sure he stayed upright before letting go completely. He seemed to be doing okay although he was swaying a bit and still had that slightly dreamy look on his face.

"Thanks Felicity, you're amazing", he said to her. "And it feels so great when you touch me, even though I can't really feel it in the same way as usual right now. It's a bit of a shame". The last part was mumbled really quietly as though he was talking to himself, but Felicity was pretty sure she heard him right anyway.

She was sure it was mostly the drugs and fever talking, but she was still a bit surprised at his words. She had never even allowed herself to imagine him thinking of her as anything more than a friend, but now his words were starting to sound a bit suggesting of something more. Maybe she was just imagining things though.

After she made sure he was fine sitting on the bed like that, she went to the kitchen to get some water and the first dose of his antibiotic.

He drank the water gratefully and even swallowed the pills without asking any questions or arguing with her. He clearly wasn't himself yet.

"I still feel kind of funny, I think I'm gonna lie down for a bit", he said after that.

Felicity watched him carefully manouver himself on to the bed so that his bad side wasn't jostled and didn't touch anything. He managed just fine on his own and seemed to find a comfortable position.

"Okay, I'm gonna go sit in the living room, maybe watch some TV or do some stuff on my computer. Are you gonna be ok here? You can just yell if you need anything", she said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. As long as I have someone so beautiful and smart to watch over me...", he trailed off and closed his eyes.

It probably wouldn't take long for him to fall asleep, so Felicity went to get her computer.


	8. Chapter 8

Felicity enjoyed some quiet time for a while and just sat on the couch surfing the internet. Diggle stopped by quickly to deliver some clothes for Oliver and to tell her that the work issue had been taken care of. Somebody would probably suspect a thing or two when both the CEO and his assistant were taking sick days, but what can you do. Evereybody was already thinking that they slept together so it wasn't really that shocking.

After a while her stomach started grumbling and she realized that neither of them had actually eaten anything during the whole day. She started looking for some take-out menusand must have been a bit distracted, because she suddenly heard a thumping sound and turned around to see Oliver having fallen to his knees in the doorway.

"Oh my god, what are you doing?! You should still be in bed and not moving around when you're clearly not in that great shape yet!" she panicked.

"I just... needed to use the ... bathroom", Oliver panted like he had just run a marathon and not only taken a few steps out of the bedroom.

"Well why didn't you call me, I would of course had come and helped you", she continued her scolding.

"Didn't wanna bother you ... It's just a few steps...", he mumbled sheepishly.

"Okay, let's get you there then", she said as she reached her hand out to help him. "You can lean on me. I know I'm not really that strong, but I can at least take a little of your weight. No wonder you weren't able to walk on your own yet, with all your muscles it must be like trying to lift some really heavy weights at the gym everytime you try to move. Not that I've been staring at your muscles or anything...", she trailed off with a small blush.

Oliver smiled a little at her ramblings and managed to get up and to the bathroom just fine with a little help. Maybe he really was too heavy for his own good?

"You can manage this on your own, right? I mean you can sit down and do whatever you need to do and I'll be outside and ready to help you when you're ready to get out, ok?" she asked a bit nervously.

Felicity hadn't even thought about it before that, but she really didn't want to have to help Oliver with something like that. She embarrased herself enough already with all her slips of the tongue.

She was really relieved when Oliver just nodded at her, actually blushing a bit himself. Maybe this wasn't easy for him either even though he always seemed so confident in every situation.

So Felicity left the door a little bit ajar just in case and stood waiting with her back to the door. Of course she couldn't stand the awkward silence, so she hade to start talking about something.

"A was just thinking about ordering some food, are you hungry? You probably are 'cause you haven't eaten anything since you came here last night. And knowing you, you didn't eat before that either. You never take care of yourself properly... Oh right, I was talking about the food. There's a good chinese place just around the corner, I thought we could order something from there if that's ok with you? I don't know what you feel like, but at least they have some good noodle soup there that probably would be good for somebody who's sick. Not that you're some kind of invalid or anything of course, I was just thinking...", she thought out loud.

She was saved in that moment by Oliver's hand on her shoulder.

"Felicity, I'm fine with whatever you're ordering. I'm not that fussy about what it is", he said. "Now, maybe we could go over to the couch?" he asked.

He hated that he had to bother her, but the truth was he probably wouldn't manage so well on his own as the pain medication was starting to wear off and he could almost feel the fever rising again. Of course he wouldn't tell her that, she was panicking enough already and didn't need to be scared over something so trivial.

With Felicity's help he slowly sat down on the couch and she turned the TV on for him while she went to call the restaurant to order the food.

The food arrived and they ate everything with a good appetite since they both were really hungry at that point. They were also watching some stupid comedy show on the TV and they both actually laughed at it fromt time to time. Or Oliver tried to laugh until he noticed it was really not a good idea to move that much and tried his best to stiffle it.

During their meal Felicity noticed that Oliver seemed to be doing worse again. Of course she heard his quiet whimpers everytime he happened to move a bit too much and she also noticed he was looking more flushed and tired again.

"Are you sure you're okay Oliver?" she asked. "It's just, you look like you're in pain and I'm pretty sure you're fever is rising again. I think you should probably take some medicine".

"I'm fine, I don't need anything. I've been drugged enough already today without any unnecessary painkillers", he snapped.

He knew he sounded a bit ungrateful, but it was really hard to be civil when your whole body was hurting.

"I'll just go rest for a while and everthing will be fine after that", he decided.

Not wanting to argue too much with him, Felicity rose up to help him to the bed but he just brushed her off.

"I'm fine, I'll let you know if I need any help", he said and walked slowly and stiffly to the bedroom.


	9. Chapter 9

Annoyed with Oliver's attitude Felicity decided that she would leave him to manage best he could. Of course she was still worried about him, but she knew he was a really independent person and that it probably was hard for him to stay at someone else's appartment and having to ask for help. Most likely he just needed some space and would be fine on his own for a little while. If he decided to stop acting like an idiot and actually needed something he could always call for her.

She relaxed back into the couch and started watching some TV movie that had just begun and seemed at least mildly interesting.

* * *

It was only when the movie ended that Felicity realized quite some time had passed. With all the commercials every five minutes the movie had taken almost three hours, and she had just forgot about everything else for all that time. She hadn't heard anything from the bedroom, so she assumed Oliver had fallen asleep.

Seeing as it was getting kind of late and she didn't get that much sleep the night before, Felicity decided to start getting herself ready for bed too. She really hoped Oliver had been nice enough to not sprawl himself over to entire bed and that there would be some room for her too.

She quickly cleaned up the remains of their earlier meal, turned off the TV and the lights and made her way to the bedroom.

* * *

In the bedroom Felicity was greated by a disturbing sight. Oliver lay curled up in a corner of the bed and seemed to be in really bad shape. He was white as a sheet, shivering and sweating. When Felicity rushed over to him, she also noticed he was awake and just had his eyes squeezed shut, presumably against the pain.

"Shit, Oliver, what can I do to help you? Why didn't you call for me sooner? I've just been watching TV like an idiot while you're clearly suffering in here", she said worriedly.

Oliver just whimpered in response, not managing to give her any kind of answer. By this point his side hurt so much that he couldn't even breath properly and talking was really out of the question. He felt truly miserable.

"I'm gonna get you some painkillers, whether you like it or not. Let's see about these stronger ones that Dig brought, I'm pretty sure this is beyond the capacity of my measly headache pills. Besides they're probably gonna kick in a lot faster and you really look like you need some relief rather sooner then later", she decided.

Felicity brought him the pills and got him to swallow them with some difficulty. At first he seemed to be completely unable to do anything else then just lie there panting and shivering, but with some coaxing from her he managed to raise his head and open his mouth enough to get them down with a little bit of water.

"Okay, I know you feel like shit right now but it's gonna get better. Just hold on for a few minutes and then the medicine is gonna kick in and make the pain go away. I'll be right here while we're waiting, try to relax as much as possible. I know it hurts, but just try to breath slowly in and out", she tried to reassure him as she sat down on the floor next to him and took a hold of his hand.

Felicity was trying really hard not to panic about his condition and even harder to not let any of her struggle show. She couldn't belive she had just sat there in the other room while he'd been lying here in pain. Maybe it hadn't gotten so bad if she'd just put up with his bad temper and not let him out of her sight? Deep down she knew he wouldn't even have let her do that and it was just his own stubborness that had got him in this situation in the first place, but she couldn't help worrying. Oliver was without doubt the most important person in her life and to see him like this was really not easy.

After she'd sat there pondering the situation and tracing patters on his hand for a few minutes, she noticed he seemed to relax the slightliest bit. He was still shivering and had his eyes closed, but at least his breathing seemed to work a little bit better. Felicity was really glad to hear something even remotely better than the horribly shallow gasps that had been the only thing he managed when she first came in the room.

"Oliver? Are you feeling any better?" she asked tentatively.

"Maybe ... a little ... ", he grit out through clenched teeth.

"That's really good! If you just wait a little while longer I'm sure it's gonna get better. Now I'm gonna have to go get the thermometer to check your fever since you feel like a heating element and I'm not really sure that's a good thing", she said.

"Don't go...", he desperately whispered and tried to grip her hand.

Felicity might not have realized it, but he really needed her touch in that moment. The pain had become completely unbearable after the morphine had wore off and the only thing that seemed to help even remotely was the way she held his hand. As soon as she'd taken it he'd felt a little bit of the pain go away.

"Okay, I'll stay for just a while longer, but then I really have to get that thermometer. Dig warned me that it's not healthy to have to high of a fever and I think it's safe to say you're getting close to that point", she said.

She was getting more and more worried about him. Oliver was normally so stubborn and refused to show any reaction when he was hurt, but now he acctually seemed to be grateful for her help. Or, if you could even call it that. The fact is that she didn't have any idea of how to make him better and that scared her more than anything.

After a few more minutes Oliver seemed to at least be able to breath without being in to much pain. Felicity took the oppotunity to measure his temperature and was shocked to see how high it was.

"Oh my god Oliver! You're way too hot, 40,3 degrees! We have to get that down somehow...", she panicked, while trying frantically to come up with some useful idea.

Oliver just groaned in response but finally opened his eyes and looked at her. Felicity got even more worried when she saw how glazed over and feverbright they were.

"So how do you cool someone down?" Felicity wondered out loud. "Of course you could use icepacks, but I don't think I have any in my freezer. I really should start preparing better for all these strange situations since they seem to happen way too often..."

Felicity looked around the room and tried to come up with something else. Then it hit her; the shower!

"It's so obvious, why didn't I think of it right away!? Oliver, we're gonna get in the shower! Oh, I mean you're gonna have to take a cold shower, I mean, just to get your fever down, not anything else", she exclaimed and blushed when she realized how it sounded. Not that she hadn't had a few fantasies about him in the shower...

Oliver had a really hard time following the conversation. He was relieved that the pain had become somewhat managable, but his head still felt like it was filled with cotton and not really working properly. Normally he had no problem with Felicity's tendency to ramble a bit incoherently, he secretly even loved it, but now it was making it even harder for him to understand anything she was saying. He decided for once not to worry and just let her take care of him. He really didn't have the energy to do anything else anyway.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. This story was something I just randomly started writing during my Christmas break, and now that my school has started again I haven't really had the time to continue. The first chapters just came pouring out of me with no effort at all, but now it's much harder to write for some reason. I still have some ideas for more Olicity goodness, but it's probably just gonna take a little time for me to actually get something written. Bear with me, I'm not even really a writer, more of an avid fanfic reader, who sometimes gets some strange ideas stuck in her head ;)**


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